Summer has arrived in Australia. I’ve peeled like a prawn from the drumstick-sweet sunburn and spent this week on the beach/at a rooftop pool, so on paper, living my best life some would say. My front and my back are two different shades, like Ross in the Friends episode where he gets the dodgy spray tan. Aside from the fact mine is real, and I look like I have a weird skin condition now. Had to wear T-shirts for the last week because it was that crispy.

I think the disclaimer people sometimes leave out with traveling is that being homesick is actually normal, and I’ve definitely been beating myself up over feeling like it. I guess a part of me feels incredibly ungrateful for not slotting in to a new country straight away, but I’m trying to be patient and trust that I’ve only been here three weeks and that it’s okay to find it difficult. I miss my parents and Sunday roasts, and I miss my boyfriend because let’s be honest, I’m needy and it’s hard being apart.

I’ve done some amazing things over the last couple of weeks, inclusive of the great ocean road trip that I took with my best friends over the course of three days. Didn’t see any kangaroos but saw some of the most beautiful beaches and scenery that you just wouldn’t get anywhere else in the world. It was a mellowing experience and Australians are incredibly peaceful.

I didn’t expect my first few weeks to turn out like this. I thought I was going to flourish in a home away from home, but on the bad days I’ve been on skyscanner looking at flights back to the UK because I’ve been anxious and overwhelmed. It does feel like I’m failing a bit sometimes because I’ve found it difficult to adjust, but I didn’t pay £450 for jabs to cop a flight home at the first hurdle!

All my friends who went traveling told me to ‘not make a plan’ because they change all the time, and they couldn’t be more right. I don’t know if Melbourne is really the place for me at the moment, so over Christmas and New Year I think my route will change and I’ll explore either another part of Australia, or leave the country altogether.